The Idea

...and offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, but the flesh you may eat.

Biblically, the altar of God was a physical place of death, of payment, of commitment. Today we know it to hold the same power, but its placement is at our discretion. We fear the death of a part of us that we love: the sin that so easily entangles (Hebrews 12:1-3). But this fear of change is completely overwhelmed by the compelling character of the arms of Christ. The vanguard of true life. One might think that the Altar would provide only searing pain, but to our surprise, there is a vivid relief from the weight and burden of life (Romans 8:1-4).

1For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

So let us not hold tightly to the things of this world, but lock eyes with the Savior of our lives as He welcomes us to this Altar. Let us go to this holy place with all of our failing faults, with all of our doubts dripping from our rough edges expecting not the death of us, but the realization of wholeness with our Father, the Creator of life itself.

The Challenge

As you listen and praise through this song, consider every chance given you, and come to this costly but life-giving Altar of God to lay down all of you in sacrifice to the One who sanctifies and secures unto Himself.